Kudla S., Dyrdal A., Dugaev V. K., Sherman E. Ya., Barnas J.

We calculate the transport relaxation time and spin transport relaxation time for a two-dimensional electron gas with spatially fluctuating Rashba spin-orbit interaction. These relaxation times determine the electrical and spin conductivity of the two-dimensional system, respectively. It is shown that the transport relaxation time is a nonmonotonic function of electron energy, whereas the spin transport relaxation time decreases with increasing electron energy, similarly to the conventional electron relaxation time that characterizes the decay of an electron state corresponding to certain values of the momentum and spin. Such a behavior of the relaxation times leads to unusual temperature dependence of the electrical and spin conductivity.

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